ORANGE COUNTY PREP BASEBALL : Garden Grove League : Bolsa Grande Snaps 4-Game Losing Streak to Keep Playoff Hopes Alive

Vern Nelson still seemed haunted by images of long dives, endless free falls. Only now, maybe they could be happening to some team besides his.

“We lose today and it’s all over,” the Bolsa Grande coach said early Friday. “We could easily go into the tank.”

However, the Matadors, with already one foot soaking, had Andy Miramontes score the winning run on a balk to edge Rancho Alamitos, 4-3. The victory snapped a four-game losing streak.

“We didn’t hit the ball real well,” Nelson said, “and we didn’t play that well. But we played well enough to win.”

Indeed, the bobbled balls, the errors, all the moments of a season lowlight film, still plagued Bolsa Grande. Tony Beall, a usually sure-handed shortstop, juggled two balls. The Matadors committed four errors. And a team that had been batting .308 managed only five hits.

Things had been much worse. Bolsa Grande was once 7-0 in the Garden Grove League. But with only 11 players available, the Matadors lost to Leuzinger in the consolation championship of their own Easter tournament. La Quinta swept a two-game series from them, winning one game, 21-1. Then, the Matadors were ahead of Rancho Alamitos, 5-2, before the Vaqueros’ Steve Jenkins hit a pivotal grand slam. The pitching had faltered, and the hitting had become almost non-existent.

Said Nelson: “We went into kind of a tailspin.”

Said Nelson’s assistant, John Johnson: “Really, we didn’t know what was going on.”

After Friday’s long-awaited win, Nelson believes his team’s slide has stopped.

The ascent started when the Matadors began hitting Rancho Alamitos’ Mike Willey left and right--literally. Willey was struck on the right leg by a ground ball at the beginning of the fourth inning. He then gave up two runs and three hits before being struck on the left leg by another ground ball. Rob Walker’s single scored Rick Hollis, who had singled. Chris Tapin then drove in Beall, who had also singled, to tie the score, 3-3.

In the fifth, Miramontes scored the winning run when Willey, confused by Miramontes’ run up the line from third base, balked.

The victory moved Bolsa Grande (6-5) into second place, a half-game ahead of Rancho Alamitos (5-5-1).

“We hold our own destiny now,” Nelson said. “Now all we have to do is win the rest of our games.”

La Quinta 7, Santiago 5--The Aztecs, led by John Park, who doubled in two runs, scored four runs in the sixth inning to overcome a 4-2 deficit to win the league championship at Santiago. Guillermo Alcantar went 3 for 4 and Jerry Arneson went 2 for 3 with an RBI and scored two runs. James Marquez (8-0) gave up 11 hits and struck out four through six innings, and Mike Wilson picked up his third save.The Aztecs (11-0, 19-2) advance to Southern Section 2-A playoffs for the 10th straight year. Santiago is 4-7 in league.

Garden Grove 3, Los Amigos 2--Greg Lorenz drove in the winning run with a single in the seventh inning at Garden Grove. Mark Rung pitched a two-hitter, striking out 11. Garden Grove is 5-6, 10-12; Los Amigos is 1-9-1, 2-17-1.